RESTOCK. Is there anybody out there who's a fan of reading rock criticism? Yeah, us neither! Because in this modern world, it's a piss-poor undertaking anymore, this so-called rock criticism. These new ?writers? (the quotes are ours ? but they earned them!) just can't seem to put a sentence together or have an opinion worth spending a sentence on. You can blame it on whomever or whatever you want ? merged-out big-money publishing conglomerates, blockheaded editorial policy (not to mention blockheaded editors), trendy industry suckers in high places or the public school system that spawned them all! No matter which three you choose, we'll agree with you all the way down the line. Because it's all true!

Fortunately, Alan's book brings back some of that good old sense and sensibility to the long-abused, much maligned profession of rock criticism. The Licht take is this: as a fan and an actual guitarist of repute, he's got a few observations and interpretations of the trends we've all been subjected to here in the US 80s/90s. Tracing the whole thing back to the sixties (what did you expect, going all the way back to the blues?), Alan takes on the NYC scene, the avant-garde, chart-busting synth-pop, the chilly days of the cold war, the even chillier days of post rock and more, breaking it all down into easy to read chunklets (not like that idiot fanzine - insightful and well-written instead).